This year was foundational for our organization and community. We established Allies as an official 501c3 nonprofit, expanded our core team, and refined our strategic vision to build slave-free cities.

We also celebrated several milestones in our work mobilizing and educating the community, supporting local trafficking survivors and coordinating a network of key partners. These five highlights stood out to me:

With your help we expanded our Survivor Support Initiatives by 165%, delivering over $12,000 of in-kind support to more than 50 local survivors and their families. After Maria’s children received backpacks during our Back-to-School drive, she shared, “It is something truly beautiful to know that there are good people all around me.” Fiona, who was supported during our Christmas Gift Drive, said, “These gifts are a hope for my future and assure me that I am among people who care for others.” We also provided referrals for 16 survivors seeking help, connecting them with critical resources in our community and across the country.

Our Book Clubs and Justice Parties gave people new ways to engage the issue and their community. Jordan, who co-led a Justice Party, shared, “It was one of the most empowering nights of my life. My sense of purpose was overwhelming. We live in a world where men, women and children are exploited for someone else’s economic benefit. But more importantly, we have the power to change that reality. Our power starts with conversation.”

Volunteer leaders on our Survivor Support, Community Engagement, and Operations Teams served more than 850 hours to advance our mission.

We influenced over 2,500 people – a 25% increase from last year – through our presentations and trainings for stakeholders ranging from universities and churches to criminal justice practitioners and service providers. More than 90% of the people we trained reported they were extremely likely to recommend our training to their colleagues and other organizations.

We launched the Texas Slavery Mapping Project in partnership with the University of Texas. The project, funded by the Governor's Office, is a groundbreaking research initiative which aims to determine the scale of slavery across the state and provide critical data to stakeholders at all levels.

We continue to face the challenge of slavery head-on knowing our work produces results. Now we are positioned to increase those results in 2015 – more survivors supported, more stakeholders trained to respond, better data to improve solutions, and more partners working collaboratively through our unique Slave-Free City Network.